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Early Medieval Ireland: Archaeological Excavations 1930-2004

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Early Medieval Ireland: Archaeological Excavations 1930-2004 EARLY MEDIEVAL ARCHAEOLOGY PROJECT (EMAP) Report 2.1 Early Medieval Ireland: Archaeological Excavations 1930-2004 Aidan O'Sullivan, Finbar McCormick, Thomas Kerr & Lorcan Harney December 2008 UCD School of Archaeology Irish National Strategic Archaeological Research (INSTAR) Programme 2008 Early medieval Ireland, Archaeological excavations 1930-2004 by Aidan O’Sullivan, Finbar McCormick, Thom Kerr and Lorcan Harney Early Medieval Archaeology Project (EMAP) Report 2.1 Report to INSTAR 2008 UCD School of Archaeology/School of Geography, Palaeoecology and Archaeology, QUB/CRDS/ACS December 2008 EMAP Report 2:1 Contents LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................ VII LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................IX ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS......................................................................... X EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ......................................................................... X CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................... 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................1 THE EARLY MEDIEVAL ARCHAEOLOGY PROJECT (EMAP) ........................................1 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF EMAP.........................................................................1 SCOPE OF EMAP REPORT ...................................................................................2 SOURCES OF INFORMATION FOR EMAP REPORT ....................................................3 Excavations Bulletin ................................................................................................... 3 Other Published Information ....................................................................................... 4 Other useful Sources.................................................................................................. 4 THE HISTORY AND LEGACY OF EARLY MEDIEVAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATION IN IRELAND..........................................................................................................5 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 5 Antiquarians .............................................................................................................. 5 The earliest University Excavations.............................................................................. 7 The emergence of State-funded Excavations ................................................................ 7 The development of Legislation and Protected Sites and Monuments.............................. 8 The origins of commercial or pre-development Excavations ........................................... 9 The impact of the history of Early Medieval Excavations in Irish archaeology................... 9 CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................................... 10 CHAPTER 2. THE CHARACTER OF EARLY MEDIEVAL EXCAVATIONS IN IRELAND, 1930-2004......................................................................... 12 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 12 EARLY MEDIEVAL EXCAVATIONS 1930-2004 .................................................... 13 Early Medieval Excavations Annually 1930-2004 ..........................................................13 Excavated Sites per County........................................................................................14 Early Medieval Excavations per County .......................................................................15 Excavations annually in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland 1930-2004............18 Significance of Excavated Early Medieval ‘Sites’ ...........................................................19 Significance of Sites per County .................................................................................20 Excavations Annually and Sites of Different Significance ...............................................23 Excavation Type .......................................................................................................26 Excavation Types Annually.........................................................................................26 Excavation Types per County .....................................................................................29 Archaeological Institutions and Early Medieval Excavations...........................................31 University Excavations and associated Excavations ......................................................32 State-funded Excavations and associated Excavations ..................................................33 Commercial Excavations and associated Excavation Licenses ........................................34 Schemes and Infrastructural Projects..........................................................................36 Significance of Sites in which excavations were undertaken along Schemes/Projects.......37 Excavations Types along Schemes/Projects .................................................................38 The changing character of early medieval excavations in Ireland, 1930-2004 .................40 WHAT EARLY MEDIEVAL SITES WERE EXCAVATED 1930-2004? A SUMMARY OF MAIN FINDINGS ..................................................................................................... 41 Archaeologically Significant Excavations Annually on early medieval sites.......................42 Site Categories .........................................................................................................43 Excavated Early Medieval Site Categories....................................................................43 Excavations in environs of ‘Site’ Category....................................................................45 I EMAP Report 2:1 Contents CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................................... 47 CHAPTER 3. EARLY MEDIEVAL DWELLINGS, SETTLEMENTS AND LANDSCAPES...................................................................................... 48 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 48 EARLY MEDIEVAL RURAL SETTLEMENT .............................................................. 49 Introduction .............................................................................................................49 EARLY MEDIEVAL RINGFORTS/CASHELS............................................................ 51 Introduction .............................................................................................................51 Ringforts and Cashels: Definitions, Morphology and Form.............................................52 Excavated Ringforts and Cashels, 1930-2004...............................................................53 Archaeological Significance of Excavated Ringforts...................................................55 Excavated Cashels ................................................................................................56 Ringfort Distribution and Siting ..................................................................................58 Ringfort and Cashels: Chronology...............................................................................59 The cultural biographies of ringforts .......................................................................61 Continuity with the past? .......................................................................................61 Multi-Phase Activity:..............................................................................................63 Occupation across time .........................................................................................63 The end of ringforts?.............................................................................................64 Interpreting the Social, Economic and Ideological Roles of Ringforts and Cashels ...........65 The Excavated Archaeological Evidence for Social Status of inhabitants of Early Medieval Ringforts..................................................................................................................68 Ringforts of Low Status Grades ..............................................................................68 Ringforts of Ordinary Farmers ................................................................................68 Ringforts of Prosperous Farmers and Nobility ..........................................................69 Social landscapes? Interpreting early medieval social organisation from ringforts............69 Conclusions ..............................................................................................................72 EARLY MEDIEVAL SETTLEMENT ENCLOSURES OTHER THAN RINGFORTS/CASHELS ...... 72 Introduction – rethinking the dwelling enclosure in early medieval Ireland .....................72 Identifying other forms of early medieval settlement enclosure.....................................73 Excavated early medieval ditched enclosures...........................................................73 Excavated early medieval palisaded enclosures........................................................76 Chronology and Occupation .......................................................................................76 Enclosure Size ..........................................................................................................77
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